God’s Worthless Shepherd
Zechariah 11:5-17
July 9, 2023
I don’t know about you, but it’s hard to know from year to year what I should and shouldn’t eat — what’s good for me and what’s bad for me? High fat? Low fat? Eggs or no eggs? Carbs or no carbs? Meat? Vegetarian? Or vegan? A few years ago, the Spartanburg Herald Journal summarized the problem this way:
The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British and Americans. The French eat a lot of fat and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans. The Japanese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans. The Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans. In conclusion, eat and drink what you like. Speaking English apparently kills you.
More seriously, medical doctor William Isley has observed, “The medical literature contains thousands of articles which have now been corrected, disregarded, or even have been shown to be flagrantly wrong despite the presence of ‘statically significant [probability] value[s]….’” In other words, it seems that no one knows what food groups are good for us.
Because we are created human beings with built-in weaknesses and inabilities, and because we are also fallen human beings who struggle with sinful inclinations (even as redeemed people), it’s not surprising that we make errors in judgment and evaluation about a great many circumstances (including what to eat). This has been a problem since Genesis 3 and Adam’s sin. We are not immune from the problem, and God’s chosen people Israel were not immune either.
In Zechariah 9, the prophet foretold the coming of the Messiah (9:9) and in 11:12 he prophesied the rejection of the Messiah as Israel’s King. In response to their ungodly evaluation of the Shepherd King, God promised to send another shepherd to Israel — a shepherd that would be a judgment on Israel —
Because Israel judged God’s Good Shepherd as worthless, God will judge Israel with a worthless shepherd.
Israel would have a shepherd; if she would not have the Good Shepherd, she would have a worthless shepherd. This passage identifies three qualities of the coming worthless shepherd of Israel:
- The Character of the Worthless Shepherd (v. 15)
- The Conduct of the Worthless Shepherd (v. 16)
- What the worthless shepherd doesn’t do
- What the worthless shepherd does do
- The Condemnation of the Worthless Shepherd (v. 17)
Download the rest of this sermon on Zechariah 11:15-17.
The audio will be posted on the GBC website by tomorrow.
Words of Grace 